Vehicle trim components such as door panel liners, headliners, insignia plaques, etc. are conventionally secured to a vehicle sheet metal panel by separate fasteners which necessarily involve inventory costs as well as the cost involved with assembling the fasteners to the sheet metal panel and the trim component to the fastener.
Patents noted during an investigation conducted in connection with the present invention include U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,636 Tanaka; U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,208 Boundy; U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,567 Clinch; U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,396 Benoit; U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,501 Gugle et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,954 Sobin; U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,858 Bolanos et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,573 de Beers et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,846,631 Nowosiadly; U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,891 Meyer; U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,729 Baack; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,631 Hironaka et al.